Where: Pot Smoker BBQ, 340 Edgefield Road, North Augusta, SC 29841 – map www.thepotsmokerbbq.com This the monthly dinner meeting of the premier Miata Club in the CSRA. Come out and have some eats with fellow[...]

Location: The Outing Club in Aiken, SC. The Outing Club is located, appropriately enough, on Outing Club Rd which is off the 118 By-pass about 2 miles from USC Aiken. The entrance gate (33.595227, -81.762587)[...]

We had a group of six cars (about half of last year’s attendees) gathered at Greg’s Gas Plus in diminishing light of Saturday’s dusk. While the dozen of us (actually 11) stood a waiting for the 8:00 PM start time we did the usual chatting and standing around, all the while wondering who else was going to show. Turned out this was it, so our little caravan of insect assassins headed north in search of prey.

This year’s weather was a lot nicer than last, no rain for one, but both the temperature and humidity were below there usual high levels for this time of the year, making for a very pleasant evening drive in the country. Another thing nicer this year was while driving you could occasionally see bugs illuminated in your headlights. The 40 miles loop passed quickly and uneventfully for our little group.

Judging took place under the lighted canopy of the North Augusta Sonic Drive In while the group feasted on sundaes, shakes and even hot dogs and onion rings. Below is the rouges gallery of this year’s winners.

Jennie & Thomas won the closest to the dot prize with a small, but extremely well placed splat.

Don & Kay couldn’t defend their title and take the trophy back home with them, but they did manage to get the Fewest Bugs prize.

Trudy & Hal received the Most Bugs prize with several medium sized spalts and an all too alive, but late coming, Boll Weevil.

Winner of the Biggest Bug trophy was Brian & Donna with a large splat prominent on the nose of their car.

Participants, don’t forget to remove that green Avery dot off your car. Took me until this morning to remember mine and I daily drive the Miata, plus the thing was on my windshield!

Victor had a family obligation so he couldn’t get to the start point in time to make the drive to Blackville with the group, but promised to meet us there. As it turned out, because of the usual Miata gathering start time creep, when the five us were approaching the the last turn to get to Miller’s Breadbasket, Victor, who was coming from an entirely different direction, popped into view.

Breakfast at Miller’s is a new thing and the 2 times that Donna and I have eaten there, there have only been a couple other people there with us, so we weren’t too sure how long they were going to keep doing it. But this visit, possibly because we were there a little bit later in the day, there was a decent crowd eating breakfast.

Breakfast there, like the lunch, is served cafeteria style, grab a tray point at the food and someone serves it up for you. The wild card is a 3-egg omelet, it is cooked to order and brought to your table. The trouble with this is you have to wait a bit for it to show up, meaning you are looking at your accompaniments on your plate already and trying not to eat them.

After finishing eating we sat around and chatted so long (Miata gathering finish time creep) that Victor had to duck out and leave ahead of the rest of the group to wrap up that familial obligation. Karl doubled back to Springfield to check something out he was interested in. David went his own way too, leaving Brian to lead Tom and Doug back to Aiken on a different, but shorter route, back to Aiken.

You can stop watching at the 2:00 minute mark, the rest is an ad for a How a Car Works video for aspiring mechanics buy tearing down a car and putting it back together. Of course they do use a Miata as the car so it might be worth the $20 to preorder it.

As a bonus for tuning in, here is one of a Triumph engine being disassembled…and going back together:

The Boll Weevil is located at 10 Ninth Street, Augusta, GA. Come out and have dinner with some fellow Miata owners. Recap last month’s events, outline the upcoming month’s events and discuss the business of being a car club.

Please RSVP me before September 1st because I need to give the restaurant a head count prior to attending. Thanks – and look forward to seeing you all there!